Thawing a Frozen Heart
by albinotanuki
Summary: After having Hans' memories erased, Elsa is left to look after him and starts to have feelings for him.
1. Chapter 1

Elsa remembered when Prince Hans returned to seek his revenge. She and the guards had let him in, thinking he was a sick beggar only to realize it was the banished prince in disguise.

"Because you had to humiliate me in front of everyone, my brothers have stripped me of my title." said the angry former prince, "This is no longer about taking the throne; this is about revenge."

When Hans grabbed Anna, holding a knife up against her neck, Elsa panicked and threw her ice powers at him, striking his head, knocking him unconscious. She could've let him die, after all, he DID try to harm her sister, but deep down, Elsa felt it wasn't right. Even if he was a cold hearted monster, leaving him to freeze to death would only make things worse.

Elsa took Hans to the trolls at the Valley of the Living Rock. He was already cold and a strip of his hair had already turned white. Pappie put his hand on Hans' head, realizing there was more wrong with it than being frozen.

"His mind is plagued with memories of fear and hate. I will take away both of his ailments. He will only have memories of love, but while his head may be cured, his heart will not be easily persuaded."

After Pappie had cleared Hans' head, elsa was left with a tough dilemma: what to do with him. She couldn't send him back home in fear his memories would come back and she couldn't lock him up in the dungeon if he had no memories of any crimes he had commited. There was only ONE way she could think of to deal with him: make him a "guest" of the Arendelle Castle and keep the doors closed.


	2. Chapter 2

Elsa looked out the window of the drawing room. Everything looked so alive outside while she was in the dark, cold castle. Even her sister, Anna was starting to get restless.

"Elsa, do we have to lock up the castle? I feel like a prisoner in here and I've started talking to the paintings on the walls again."

"I know you're frustrated, Anna, but we have to keep Hans locked up without him knowing he's a prisoner."

"But we're just making ourselves prisoners as well."

Elsa sighed as she put a hand on her sister's shoulder.

"Anna, I don't want to do to us what our parents have done, but what other choice do we have?"

At that moment, Hans poked his head from the door.

"Queen Elsa, Princess Anna, I'd like to thank you for inviting me to stay in your castle."

"Oh, you're welcome. Our castle is your castle." Elsa smiled, "If there's anything you need, we and our servants are here to help."

Hans bowed his head in thanks before closing the door, leaving the sisters by themselves.

"How long are we going to keep up this charade before he finds out the truth?" whispered Anna.

"Well if our parents were able to keep our secrets a secret for years, I'm sure there's a way. Until then, we'll have to be careful around him."

"Well its difficult for me to act careful around someone who put a knife at my throat."

"At least he doesn't remember doing that."

"Yeah. That makes it a lot better." said Anna sarcastically.

"Anna, please. Just whatever you do, don't remind him of his past. You promise?"

"I promise." Anna sighed.

"Good." said Elsa as she placed a kiss on her sister's forehead.

Anna smiled before leaving the room. Elsa smiled back, but her smile could not ease her, for she knew keeping Hans in their castle would prove difficult.


	3. Chapter 3

Elsa decided to grab a book from the castle library. She didn't expect to see Hans looking through the large case of books on the walls.

"Queen Elsa, its good seeing you here." said Hans as he grabbed a book of Hans Christian Anderson stories, "You don't mind if I take off my gloves, do you? I like to touch the pages between my fingers as I turn them."

"No, go right ahead. I like that too." said Elsa.

Hans took off his gloves one by one. Elsa's eyes widened seeing the scars on his hands.

"Where did you get those scars?" asked Elsa.

"I don't know." Hans replied as he curiously looked at his scars.

"They look like they've been frostbitten." said Elsa as she examined them. They looked like they had been around for years, so they couldn't have been from when she blast him with her powers, after all, she hit him in the head, not his hands.

It was at that moment Elsa spotted a large spider on the wall and screamed in shock. Hans turned around to see the spider. He then came at the spider with the heavy book an flattened it. However, he did not stop. He kept hitting the spider with the book over and over again. While Elsa was startled by the large spider, she was more frightened by the accessively violent act Hans was commiting.

"Hans, stop!" said Elsa, grabbing the book while trying to keep Hans from hitting the spider again, "It's already dead. There's no need to continue."

Hans looked down at the once body of the spider. It's legs and body were crushed by the book until no more. His face became blank, not sure of what had snapped inside of him or why he had taken such cruelty to such a small creature.

Hans let go of the book and walked out of the room. Elsa grasped the book as began to worry that keeping Hans in the castle might be more dangerous than she had previously realized.


	4. Chapter 4

"And he kept hitting that poor spider?!" aske Anna in shock.

"Yes. It was quite disturbing." Elsa replied.

"Well then that clearly means he'll snap at any time. Its not safe to keep him here."

"He just lost control. As long as we keep an eye on him, I'm sure things will be fine."

"Things will be fine?! Elsa, you've always been the reasonable one; you of all people should see that Hans isn't stable enough to be locked up with others!"

"We have the guards in case anything gets out of hand and I have my ice powers to keep us safe."

"I still don't feel safe."

"I'll make sure you're safe, Anna." said Elsa as she put her hand on her sister's shoulder, "I promise."

Elsa walked out from the drawing room. As she walked down the hallway, she decided to go check on Hans in his room. When she opened the door, she was shocked to find it empty. A cold shiver went down her spine as she feared the worst. She then turned around to see Hans standing behind her.

"Queen Elsa, I've been looking for you." said Hans as he held out a single snow crocus, "I wanted to appoligize for the spider incident. I don't know what came over me."

Elsa looked at the purple flower and back at Hans again. She didn't know if this was true sincerity or him "acting" again. Either way, she took the crocus from him.

"Its alright." said Elsa, "Thank you."

"So you're afraid of spiders?" asked Hans.

"Only the big ones." said Elsa.

"I understand." Hans laughed.

Elsa smiled.

"You don't mind letting me in my room? Asked Hans.

"Oh, sure." said Elsa.

Elsa stepped out of the way to let Hans in his room. After Hans closed the door, Elsa walked off. She looked down at the crocus and gave a small smile. Perhaps there maybe some warmth inside that cold heart. Perhaps just being kind to him will warm that heart.


	5. Chapter 5

The next morning, Elsa walked to Hans bedroom and knocked on the door.

"Hans, are you up?"

"I'm up."

"Are you decent?"

"Yes."

"May I come in?"

"Please do."

Elsa opened the door.

"Good morning, Hans. I was wondering if you'd like to come with me in the ballroom and build a snowman?"

"A snowman in the ballroom?" asked Hans puzzlingly.

"Yes." Elsa smiled, "Come, let me show you."

Elsa took Hans' hand and brought him over to the ballroom. Elsa then conjured up her ice powers and through it up in the air, making it snow until it covered the ground. Elsa conjured up a snowball.

"Here, you can use this to build your snowman."

Hans looked at the snowball with confusion, as if he did not know what to do with it. Elsa came to realize this.

"You never built a snowman before?"

"Not that my memory serves me. I don't think anyone has ever even taught me."

Elsa realized that maybe she should show him how it was done.

"You just take your snowball and role it on the snow like this."

She deministrated, letting the snowball gather up snow until it became a giant snowball.

"Then you just repeat two times and stack the other snowballs on top of the first."

Hans looked down at the snow. He tried gathering the snow until the ball became lopsided. Elsa stepped in to help him as they both rolled the ball together. They both repeated the process until both snowballs were on top of the first.

"Here. Why don't you put on the finishing touches?" said Elsa as she handed him coal and a carrot for the face.

"Thank you." said Hans as he took the supplies and started decorating the face, "You know, I want to thank you for your hospitality. I'm greatly enjoying your company."

"Thanks." said Elsa.

"I think you'd like my mother; you and she are a lot alike." Hans smiled.

"Oh." said Elsa, "Does she also have ice powers like me?"

"Well... no." said Hans, "She's very kind and patient though. You remind me of her."

Elsa smiled. She realized deep in that cold heart of his was a innocent child.

"What if I told you I've made a snowman that's alive?"

"You have?" asked Hans.

"Yes. I'll plan on introducing you to him."

"This, I've got to see."

Elsa wasn't sure if Hans believed in her or not, but perhaps a visit from Olaf would do good.


End file.
